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8-21-2019

An Examination of Contemporary Christian MusicSuccess Within Mainstream Rock and CountryBillboard ChartsMegan Marie Carlan

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Part of the Music Business Commons

An Examination of Contemporary Christian Music Success

Within Mainstream Rock and Country Billboard Charts

By Megan Marie Carlan

Arts and Entertainment Management

Dr. Theresa Lant

Lubin School of Business

August 21, 2019

Abstract

Ranging from inspirational songs void of theological language to worship music imbued

with overt religious messages, Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) has a long history of being

ill-defined. Due to the genre’s flexible nature, many Christian artists over the years have used

vague imagery and secular lyrical content to find favor among mainstream outlets. This study

examined the most recent ten-year period of CCM to determine its ability to cross over into the

mainstream music scene, while also assessing the impact of its lyrical content and genre on the

probability of reaching such mainstream success. For the years 2008-2018, Billboard data were

collected for every Christian song on the Hot 100, Hot Rock Songs, or Hot Country Songs in

order to detect any noticeable trend regarding the rise or fall of CCM; each song then was coded

for theological language. No obvious trend emerged regarding the mainstream success of CCM

as a whole, but the genre of Rock was found to possess the greatest degree of mainstream

success. Rock also, however, was shown to have a very low tolerance for theological language,

contrasted with the high tolerance of Country. As such, it is reasonable to question whether

Mainstream Christian Rock is even really Christian at all.

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Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………1

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………..3

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………….4

History of Christian Music………………………………………………………………...4

The Jesus Movement and Christian Rock………………………………………....4

1980s & 1990s…………………………………………………………………….6

The Decline of Mainstream CCM………………………………………………....7

The Rise of Worship Music……………………………………………………….8

Christian Music Today…………………………………………………………………….9

Lauren Daigle……………………………………………………………………..9

Kanye West……………………………………………………………………....10

Tori Kelly………………………………………………………………………...11

Avril Lavigne…………………………………………………………………….11

Crossovers……………………………………………………………………………….12

Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………..14

Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………….15

Crossover Success………………………………………………………………………..15

Lyrical

Content…………………………………………………………………………...17

2

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..2

4

Works

Cited……………………………………………………………………………………….26

List of Figures

Figure Page

1 Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot 100 Chart (2008-2018) …………..16

2 Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot Rock Songs Chart (2008-2018)......16

3 Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot Country Songs Chart (2008-2018)..17

4 Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot 100 Chart……………………………………...18

5 Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot Rock Songs Chart………………………….….18

6 Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot Country Songs Chart……………………….…19

7 Top Ten Hot Rock Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word counts).21

8 Top Ten Hot Country Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word

counts)............................................................................................................................................22

9 Top Ten Hot 100 Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word counts)..

23

3

Introduction

For a long time, a standard understanding of Christian Music included songs with

blatantly theological lyrics that alienated infrequent church attendees, or songs that failed to

reach beyond church-going crowds because they were never aired on secular radio stations. In

the past year, however, there has been a noticeable shift of CCM into the mainstream music

scene via artists such as Lauren Daigle and Tori Kelly that have created legitimate questions

regarding what constitutes actual “Christian Music.”

Literature Review

History of Christian Music

Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) or what some might call “inspirational music” is a

genre of music that focuses on God and Christianity. It is the result of the marriage of two

seemingly contradictory genres, but by the end of the 1960s, it had radically grown in acceptance

both by the church and secular music scenes.

The Jesus Movement and Christian Rock

Although the term CCM had not yet been coined, the genre’s roots go back to the late

1960s and early 1970s when young Christians of the hippie generation began creating “Jesus

Music” (Prothero 132) that was more contemporary than hymns and gospel music within the

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church at the time. In his Contemporary Worship Music, John Frame wrote "About that time,

many young people from the sixties' counterculture professed to believe in Jesus. Convinced of

the bareness of a lifestyle based on drugs, free sex, and radical politics, 'hippies' became Jesus

people" (52). In a 2018 New Yorker article “The Unlikely Endurance of Christian Rock”, Kelefa

Sanneh described that time period as what Tom Wolfe called “one of the most extraordinary

religious fevers of all time” fueled by “the hippie movement, with its eagerness to remake

society.” It was during this religious fever that we see gospel music take its first steps into the

mainstream with Christian Rock. Until this point, the general attitude of the church toward

contemporary Christian music is best reflected in a 1958 advice column by Martin Luther King

Jr. in response to a young musician’s question about being both a gospel and rock n roll

musician: “The profound sacred and spiritual meaning of the great music of the church must

never be mixed with the transitory quality of rock and roll music.” Less than a year later,

however, “King’s protégé Andrew Young declared that rock and roll had done ‘more for

integration than the church’” (Sanneh). Ultimately, the acceptance of Jesus Music into the 1970s

mainstream essentially created an industry of its own. Paul Wohlegemuth, author of Rethinking

Church Music, even predicted "[the] 1970s will see a marked acceptance of rock-influenced

music in all levels of church music. The rock style will become more familiar to all people, its

rhythmic excesses will become refined, and its earlier secular associations will be less

remembered” (Baker 140). His predictions proved valid when churches who originally dismissed

Rock n Roll as “sinful” began adapting the music to appeal to young people.

Much of the success of Christian Rock during this time can be credited to Larry Norman,

the “founding father of Christian Rock”. He released his first solo Christian album called Upon

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This Rock, a concept album in 1969 that was considered to be the first full-blown Christian rock

album. The music of the album was “a blend of folk, psychedelic, and rock influences,''

combined with "street language and gritty imagery" (Thompson 49). Norman is a perfect

example of how some Christian artists began using non-traditional music and lyrics in order to

cast a wider net into the music scene and blur the lines of genre. This is a common tactic still

used today by CCM artists to enter into mainstream spaces, and it begs the question that this

paper will begin to tackle: is this music truly “Christian” or just inspirational?

The genre of “Contemporary Christian Music” didn’t officially develop in the music

industry until 1975 when Myrrh Records began to sign Christian rock bands (McNeil 266). The

term was coined by a critic named Ron Moore in 1976 when he used it to describe Richie

Furay’s rock album I’ve Got a Reason which reflected Furay’s newfound Christian beliefs

(Nanamaker). Furay was another in a long line of popular artists that pushed the boundaries of

their genres into Christian music.

Since Larry Norman and the 1970s Jesus Movement, CCM continued to develop into a

very profitable genre of music. However, a huge reason for its mainstream success is its ability to

blur the lines of the genre like Norman with Upon This Rock and Furay with I’ve Got a Reason.

While the inspiration and meaning behind CCM is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not all of the music

under this category explicitly states the religious beliefs behind it. The ability to blur these lines

is the common thread throughout any CCM song in history that’s achieved mainstream success.

Early pioneers like Norman and Furay set the tone of Christian music for decades to come.

1980s & 1990s

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Because of the success of these early crossover pioneers’ ability to blur the lines of genre,

the Jesus music phenomenon grew into a multimillion-dollar industry by the 1980s (Powell).

Artists like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, and Jars of Clay were able to find major crossover

success in the mainstream Top 40. The 1980s also found the CCM genre to be a broader, more

all-encompassing genre than Christian Rock of the 1960s and 1970s. Amy Grant, for instance, is

considered the “Queen of Christian Pop” and another prime example of how vague lyrics and

imagery can successfully catapult a Christian song into the mainstream. In The Week’s 2016

article entitled “Who Killed the Contemporary Christian Music Industry?”, Tyler Huckabee

writes “Grant was especially revelatory, a comely teen whose lyrical vagaries left it a very open

question as to whether she was singing about God or boys. It was a potent strategy, and it led to

several Billboard-topping singles and the first Christian album to ever go platinum”. Artists like

Amy Grant were proving CCM to be a relevant and even popular contribution to the music

industry. Huckabee writes that “This laid the foundation for the next wave of faithful crooners,

including Phil Keaggy, the Newsboys, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Jaci Valesquez” and that

“together, these artists helped CCM become one of the fastest growing music genres in America,

with many bands finding crossover appeal among both spiritual and secular listeners.”

Hip-hop was another genre that made its way onto the CCM scene in the 1990s, and one

trio turned grunge group (called dcTalk) was one of the decade’s greatest CCM success stories.

Huckabee noted that “In 1997, it wasn't unusual to find dcTalk songs on MTV or Billboard

charts, making them one of CCM's most prized commodities: a Christian band that also appealed

to the culture at large.” The music of dcTalk had an edge that transcended Christian music and

reached out to even non-believers. "We were reaching out," Kevin Max of dcTalk says. "We

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were trying to communicate to the non-believer as much as we were communicating to the

believer” (Huckabee). Once again, major success was achieved from an ability to reach beyond

the natural limitations of Christian music. It is this experimental and transcendent approach that

made CCM a major success throughout the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s.

The Decline of Mainstream CCM

After decades of massive success, the 2000s had people begging the question “what

happened to CCM?” It seemed to many as though CCM’s experimental era had ended and that

musicians were reverting back to their old limited ideas of “church music”. Although the genre

still had a large audience of Christian believers, it was losing its ability to enter the mainstream

because of rigid lyrics and theology. Kevin Max stated that:

Today, when I listen to Christian radio and see the festivals and see what's happening in

the church, I don't see a whole lot of that interactivity. Where I'm at right now, it's almost

like the doors have shut on the experimenting with lyrics and images and ideas to get

people interactive.

(Huckabee)

Matt Bronleewe, a prominent CCM producer of the 1990s, contrasted modern CCM by saying:

“There was a time where you might hear a song about God, but there was an understanding that

it might also bring something else to the table.'' He also contributed much of CCM’s decline in

experimental creativity to the rise of the digital market. "There's not much room to fail

anymore," he explains. "And failure's such a creative gift. When the ability to fail is taken away,

it fuels a lot of fear. It narrows the pool of producers and writers to such a degree that there's a

sameness that starts to occur" (Huckabee).

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The Rise of Worship Music

After the rise of the digital age and decline of the experimental era of CCM, the industry

shifted their focus to what was considered the safest bet in Christian music: worship music.

Worship music differs from Christian music in many ways, but one main difference is that

worship music sings to God, rather than simply singing about God. Worship music is usually

directly addressing Gospel and Biblical theology. While a common identifying factor of CCM

music to this point has been vague language, worship music leaves little question as to whom

and what the songs address. Today, worship music is CCM’s largest and most profitable export -

“a fact worship-focused bands like Hillsong United have leveraged into playing stadiums around

the world” (Huckabee). However, it is extremely rare for a worship song to appear on

mainstream charts if overtly singing about Jesus. The shift from experimental crossover CCM to

worship music is a huge reason why CCM lost its mainstream relevance in this millennium.

Christian Music Today

In the last decade, CCM has once again experienced a noticeable shift into the

mainstream music scene. The year 2018 showed many mainstream artists creating Christian

music, as well as Christian artists creating mainstream Christian chart-toppers. Below are some

notable artists from the last few years that exemplify the changing landscape of CCM.

Lauren Daigle

At the top of the list is the highly successful Lauren Daigle, who in 2018 hit the Billboard

List for “Top Christian Artists”. Daigle is a perfect example of how Christian artists are crossing

over into the Pop music scene and breaking into the mainstream. Her 2018 album Look Up Child

rose to heights generally unheard of for female Christian artists and debuted at number three on

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the Billboard 200 chart with the biggest sales week for any Christian artist in nearly a decade,

with 115,000 units (103,000 of which were traditional album sales). In one Rolling Stone article

entitled “A Christian Singer Is Bigger Than Drake and Ariana Grande This Week”, Amy X.

Wang wrote “Lauren Daigle’s chart-topping debut highlights the deep endurance of Christian

music in America,” and in an interview with the Associated Press, Daigle talked about staying

true to her Christian fan base while also casting a wider net to reach a broader audience through

vague lyrics and an extremely modern style (Hall). In fact, one of her most popular songs from

the album was “You Say” which was performed live by a contestant on the 2018 season of The

Voice as well as the 2019 season of American Idol. Daigle performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel

Live and the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. The song was a shocking success to everyone

following the CCM genre when it broke into the Billboard Top 40 chart. Daigle’s success

continued to grow as she made appearances on popular talk shows like The Ellen DeGeneres

Show where she performed another vaguely Christian song from her album entitled “Still Rolling

Stone”. When asked about her mainstream success from The Christian Post she responded:

I think the passage that says, ‘Go out into the world and draw people unto Him,' the Great

Commission, that's what I think about in regards to the mainstream aspect...I wasn't

looking at [making my music] as in mainstream versus Christian. I was like, 'OK, what is

the purest version of me? Or what is the purest thing that God has written into my spirit

and how do I express that? How do I communicate that?

(Gibson)

This answer is vaguely reminiscent of the way Larry Norman spoke about his album Upon This

Rock when explaining his intentions to “break down the church doors” during the Jesus

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Movement. It is clear that artists like Lauren Daigle are picking up where CCM left off in the

1990s, and are once again carrying Christian music back into the mainstream.

Kanye West

One of the most influential mainstream artists today, Kanye West is leading the trend

back toward Christian crossover music. Cosmopolitan (in January 2019) even released an article

in which author Mehera Bonner speculates that Kanye might have some Christian music in the

works based on recent social media posts showing him “tapping into his spirituality” plus a

comment from Kanye himself:

You can take music that's going on right now and you change it, and you put the lord,

Jesus, make it Christian. And it kinda draws the youth to church. You know what I mean?

It makes church cool.

(Bonner)

Kanye actually has a long history of faith-inspired music. For example, his album The Life of

Pablo has deep spiritual roots, and a 2016 article by Genius’ Kevin Loo even gave five reasons

why Kanye's latest album can be considered Gospel, which ranged from numerous Biblical

references to Kanye’s depiction of a classical Biblical struggle. In fact, Kanye even categorized

the album as Gospel when he told Big Boy’s Neighborhood “This is a gospel album … A whole

lot of cursing on it, but it’s still a gospel album” (Loo).

Tori Kelly

Another artist that exemplifies this modern Christian crossover trend is pop singer Tori

Kelly, who in 2018 fulfilled her long-time dream of recording a gospel album. The album Hiding

Place reflected her deep Christian roots and launched at number one on Billboard’s Top Gospel

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Album Chart. One of the top songs from the album “Never Alone” (featuring Kirk Franklin) also

hit number one on the Billboard Gospel chart.

Avril Lavigne

Popular crossover artists are too numerous to fully recount; however, Avril Lavigne’s

crossover is too important to omit. In 2018, Lavigne made a return to music after a long battle

with Lyme disease. During her fight, Lavigne’s faith grew and inspired new music to reflect that

journey. She made her triumphant return with the Christian song “Head Above Water” which

debuted on the Hot Christian Songs top five. According to Jim Asker’s Billboard article “Tori

Kelly & Avril Lavigne Segue From Pop to Gospel, Christian Charts”, the song was “ fueled by

10,000 first-week downloads sold, good for a No. 2 start on Christian Digital Song Sales”

(Asker). For some, Lavigne was the last artist expected to record a Christian album. According to

Billboard, she banked “19 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2002, including five top 10s,

led by 2007's pop-punk No. 1 classic ‘Girlfriend’” (Asker). She is best known for her pop and

emo style of music with lyrics centering around boys, partying, and rebellion - making Lavigne

another truly unique example of what CCM can look like today.

Crossovers

As the history of CCM shows, the genre is one of constant change. The genre itself was

born out of a desire to blend the message of the church with the popular sounds of the times and

reach beyond the isolation of its culture. It was born out of a desire to fit into the mainstream.

Today, nothing has changed. CCM cannot exist in isolation; it relies on the existence of other

genres and popular musical trends to define its current state. Any piece of music that has appeal

in more than one genre or audience can be considered a crossover, but what makes a Christian

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crossover so common is it’s unique potential to be recognized as two genres at the same time:

one based on musical style and the other based on lyrics. Because of this large potential for

crossover, it is worth clarifying some of the many ways a song can become a Christian crossover

single. There are four common ways that this can happen. The first and probably the most

common way a crossover happens is by a Christian artist releasing a Christian song that finds

mass appeal through its vague lyrics. For instance, Lauren Daigle wrote “You Say” about God’s

love for her; however, the lyrics were vague enough to leave it up to the audience as to whom the

“you” in the song refers. Another way a crossover can happen is through a popular secular artist

of any genre releasing a non-Christian song with the lyrical potential to be about God, faith, or

any other Christian concept. This is very similar to what happened with Daigle’s “You Say”;

however, in this case the song has been defined as Christian by a select group of Christian

listeners rather than the artist. A great example of this would be “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus.

This song was not written for a Christian audience, but the inspirational lyrics struck a huge

chord with Christian audiences. It is also fair to assume that the Christian radio industry

capitalizes on these types of opportunities; finding hugely popular songs that can be passed off as

Christian and claiming them for their gain. Sometimes songs that have absolutely no Christian

message can be claimed by Christian audiences just by the association the artist has with the

Christian music industry. This happens when artists like The Fray or Switchfoot, who are known

for dipping their toes in both Christian and secular pools, release a completely secular song that

Christian audiences accept. And lastly, the same can happen for secular artists. When

mainstream artists like Tori Kelly or Avril Lavigne release Christian music, their non-Christian

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audiences will often accept this song because of the person singing it. It therefore becomes a

Christian song in the mainstream or a Christian crossover single.

This new landscape of Christian music is one where Christian artists like Lauren Daigle

invite secular audiences into their world, and religious audiences likewise invite secular

musicians (like Avril Lavigne and Kanye West) to be part of their world. It is comprised of a

combination of genres with lyrics ranging from inspirational music with no theological content

to worship music with explicitly religious messages. This study will examine not only the

success of CCM in the mainstream music scene in the last decade but also the genre and lyrical

content of these songs and how they affect the mainstream appeal.

Methodology

The data used in this study include every Christian single that appeared on the Hot 100

chart, Hot Rock Songs chart, and Hot Country Songs chart from 2008-2018 (as reported by

Billboard.com). For the purpose of this study, “Christian single” is defined as any song that also

can be found on a Billboard Christian chart. The Billboard charts calculate relative weekly

popularity of singles and albums in the United States for various popular genres, which includes

pop, country, rock, and contemporary Christian music. For this study, the author chose to focus

on Rock and Country music, as they are two major players in the CCM music industry.

The Billboard Hot 100 chart is the music industry standard in the U.S. In this study, the

Hot 100 will represent mainstream popularity across genres. The Billboard Hot Country Songs

chart (the music industry standard for popular country music) will represent mainstream

popularity for the country music genre. The Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart (the music industry

standard for popular Rock music) will represent mainstream popularity in the rock music genre.

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Rankings for all three charts are based on physical sales, digital sales, radio play, and online

streaming.

First, an in-depth analysis was conducted for each chart for the years 2008-2018. Each

song on these charts which also were eligible for placement on the Billboard Christian charts

(Hot Christian Songs, Christian Airplay, Christian Digital Song Sales, Christian Streaming

Songs) were categorized as “Christian Crossover Single” and recorded for the number of weeks

spent on chart and peak position on the chart.

Borrowing from Megan Livengood and Connie Ledoux Book’s (2004) system of analysis

used in their “Watering Down Christianity? An Examination of the Use of Theological Words

In Christian Music”, every “Christian Crossover Single” from each chart was coded for

theological words and classified into three categories: explicitly, moderately, and ambiguously

religious. Operational definitions for each category were also borrowed from their system (as

follows):

For this study, the operational definition of explicitly theological words is:

Any single word that, if heard in a song in any context, would cause the listener to

immediately classify the song as “religious.”

The operational definition of moderately theological words is:

Any single word that, when placed in a religious context, is obviously theological,

and when used in secular contexts it still retains some reverence or religious

feeling.

The operational definition of ambiguously theological words is:

A word that is often used in religious contexts, but carries no reverence or

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religious feeling when used in secular context

(Livengood and Book 9)

Data Analysis

Crossover Success

Figures 1-3 illustrate the total number of Christian Crossover Singles on each chart, the

sum number of weeks each single spent on said chart, and the average peak position of those

singles for the years 2008-2018. From a collective examination of these data, it is clear that Rock

is the dominant genre for Christian Crossover Singles. Even without considering unknown data

from the 2008 Hot Rock Songs chart, (1) the total number of Hot Rock singles are more than

twice that found in Hot Country, (2) the sum number of weeks spent on the Hot Rock chart is

over four times those spent on the Hot Country chart, and on average, (3) Hot Rock singles rank

seven spots higher than Hot Country singles. A yearly examination by genre, however, does not

suggest any obvious trend of growth or decline for Christian Crossover Singles.

Figure 1

Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot 100 Chart (2008-2018)

Number of Singles Total Weeks on Chart Average Peak Position

2008 2 40 37

2009 6 107 50

2010 2 49 30

2011 2 2 92

2012 2 26 58

2013 1 3 83

2014 3 34 55

2015 3 4 63

2016 2 2 53

2017 0 0 0

16

2018 2 30 38

Total 25 297 Overall Average: 56

Figure 2

Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot Rock Songs Chart (2008-2018)

Number of Singles Total Weeks on Chart Average Peak Position

2008 N/A N/A N/A

2009 2 37 24

2010 7 145 22

2011 4 72 26

2012 3 38 32

2013 3 27 25

2014 5 30 24

2015 1 28 8

2016 7 62 34

2017 7 143 19

2018 5 59 23

Total 44 641 Overall Average: 24

*Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart only archived to 2009.

Figure 3

Descriptive Data for Christian Crossover Singles on Hot Country Songs Chart (2008-2018)

Number of Singles Total Weeks on Chart Average Peak Position

2008 1 5 52

2009 3 34 42

2010 1 20 1

2011 0 0 0

2012 0 0 0

2013 1 20 25

2014 3 30 16

2015 3 3 38

17

2016 5 26 37

2017 3 11 36

2018 0 0 0

Total 20 149 Overall Average: 31

Lyrical Content

Because CCM is so heavily based on lyrical content (Price 61), this study attempts to

assess any relationship between lyrical content and mainstream success. Figures 4-6 illustrate the

average frequency of explicitly, moderately, and ambiguously theological words per year in the

lyrics of the three popular Billboard charts used in this study. When considering the total

theological words for each year, there does not seem to be an overall decline. The frequency

fluctuates over the years, which suggests that the numbers are not related to any systematic

attempt to water down the lyrics.

Figure 4

Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot 100 Chart

Explicitly Moderately Ambiguously Total

2008 1 0.5 0 1.5

2009 0.5 0.3 0.7 1.5

2010 0.5 0 0 0.5

2011 0 0 0 0

2012 0.5 0 0.5 1

2013 0 0 2 2

18

2014 1.7 0.7 10 12.4

2015 2.3 7 2.3 11.6

2016 1.5 1 6.5 9

2017 No Songs No Songs No Songs No Songs

2018 2 1.5 0 3.5

Total 10 11 22 43

Figure 5

Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot Rock Songs Chart

Explicitly Moderately Ambiguously Total

2008 No Songs No Songs No Songs No Songs

2009 0 6 0 6

2010 0 0 0.3 0.3

2011 0 0 0.75 0.75

2012 0 3.7 0.7 4.4

2013 0 0.3 0 0.3

2014 2.6 0.8 0.6 4

2015 0 0 0 0

2016 0 0.1 0.6 0.7

19

2017 0.6 0.7 2.1 3.4

2018 1.6 0 3.6 5.2

Total 4.8 11.6 8.65 25.05

Figure 6

Average Theological Words Per Song on Hot Country Songs Chart

Explicitly Moderately Ambiguously Total

2008 1 1 0 2

2009 1.7 1.7 6 9.4

2010 1 0 0 1

2011 No Songs No Songs No Songs No Songs

2012 No Songs No Songs No Songs No Songs

2013 1 0 1 2

2014 5.7 3 5 13.7

2015 2 3 2 7

2016 8.8 2.2 2.8 13.8

2017 1.7 4.7 0.3 6.7

2018 No Songs No Songs No Songs No Songs

Total 22.9 15.6 17.1 55.6

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The fluctuations in the average frequency of theological words per song do not correlate

with the fluctuations in crossover success shown in Figures 1-3. Because the population sizes for

each year in each genre are so small, these inconsistencies could be due to outliers - or songs in

each year that did exceptionally well for a “Christian song” compared to the other songs found in

that same chart that year. For example, “Fireflies” by Owl City reached major mainstream and

CCM success in 2009. The song peaked at number one on the Hot 100 and stayed on the chart

for a total of 31 weeks. This song had a total of zero theological words in it and was interpreted

by most listeners as a completely secular song. In order to account for songs such as these and

gain a better idea of how theological language can influence success, Figures 7-9 break down

each genre by the top 10 songs as computed from weeks spent on the chart along with each

song’s theological word counts. Of these top ten Christian Crossover Singles to reach the Hot

Rock chart in the last decade, 60% of them have no theological language whatsoever, and 80%

of them have no explicitly or moderately theological language. Out of the four songs that do

have theological language, 50% of those songs contain only ambiguously theological words.

While considering this data, the Hot Rock chart seems to have very low tolerance for theological

language or overtly religious songs.

Figure 7

Top Ten Hot Rock Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word

counts)

Song Artist

Weeks on

Chart Explicit Moderate Ambiguous

Total Theological

Words

Again Flyleaf 33 0 0 0 0

21

Brother NEEDTOBREAT

HE 28 0 0 0 0

Chain Breaker Zach Williams 26 0 0 4 4

Old Church Choir Zach Williams 26 3 5 4 12

Feel Invincible Skillet 26 0 0 0 0

Testify NEEDTOBREAT

HE 25 0 0 0 0

Hard Love NEEDTOBREAT

HE 24 0 0 0 0

Awake and Alive Skillet 24 0 0 2 2

Multiplied NEEDTOBREAT

HE 22 3 4 3 10

The Sound (John M Perkins' Blues) Switchfoot 21 0 0 0 0

Of the top ten Christian Crossover Singles to hit the Hot Country chart in the last decade, 100%

of the songs have some sort of theological language in them, and 90% of them have explicitly

theological language. When considering this data, the Hot Country chart seems to be much more

tolerant of theological language or overtly religious music than the Hot Rock chart.

Figure 8

Top Ten Hot Country Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word

counts)

Song Artist Weeks on

Chart Explicit Moderate Ambiguous

Total Theological

Words

Something In The Water

Carrie Underwood 24 3 1 3 7

The Climb Miley Cyrus 23 0 0 4 4

Thy Will Hillary Scott 21 4 1 0 5

Changed Rascal Flatts 20 1 0 1 2

Temporary Home

Carrie Underwood 20 1 0 0 1

22

I Wish Point of Grace 10 2 2 0 4

Back To God

Lauren Daigle & Reba

McEntire 7 3 3 0 6

How You Live (Turn Up The

Music) Point of Grace 5 1 1 0 2

Silent Night Kelly

Clarkson 4 14 7 4 25

When I Pray For You Dan + Shay 3 2 9 0 11

Of these 2008-2018 Top Ten Christian Crossover Singles to reach the Hot 100 chart, 50% have

no theological language whatsoever, 60% have no explicit theological language, and 80% have

no moderate or ambiguous theological language. As such, the Hot 100 appears, at best, to have a

moderate tolerance for theological language. Given that the Hot 100 is a cross-genre chart

encompassing both rock and country, it is not surprising that the amounts of tolerance vary (from

very tolerant to very little tolerance). In fact, the Hot 100 chart indicated that 16% and 20% of its

songs came from the Hot Rock and Hot country charts respectively. Every Hot Rock song on the

Hot 100 chart was completely void of theological language, while every Hot Country song on the

Hot 100 chart had some degree of theological language. The difference between Rock (16%) and

Country’s (20%) percentage amounts to one single song. Given, then, that both genres have

essentially the same probability of breaking into the Hot 100 but with differing tolerance levels,

it becomes reasonably clear that the remaining 64% need to be examined as a collective group.

Of these songs, 50% had explicit theological language, 38% had moderate theological language,

31% had ambiguous theological language, and 44% had no theological language whatsoever.

Figure 9

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Top Ten Hot 100 Christian Crossover Songs (weeks on chart and theological word counts)

Song Artist Weeks on

Chart Explicit Moderate Ambiguous

Total Theological

Words

You Found Me The Fray 39 1 0 0 1

Fireflies Owl City 31 0 0 0 0

Live Like We're Dying Kris Allen 29 0 0 0 0

Let You Down NF 28 0 0 0 0

The Climb Miley Cyrus 28 0 0 4 4

Something In The Water Carrie Underwood 20 3 1 3 7

Temporary Home Carrie Underwood 20 1 0 0 1

Whatever It Takes Lifehouse 20 0 0 0 0

All Around Me Flyleaf 20 2 1 0 3

Heartbeat The Fray 18 0 0 0 0

Conclusion

Christian Crossover success has been sporadic and unpredictable in the past decade,

yielding no discernable trends regarding its rise or fall in mainstream circles. The simple lack of

a firm definition for CCM makes tracking its success very difficult. Some might argue that the

inclusion of songs like “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus or “Fireflies” by Owl City in this study is

misleading because they were not created to be “Christian Songs”. Throughout this study,

however, it’s become abundantly clear that the power of defining music is in the hands of the

audience; if a Christian audience has found any kind of religious value in a piece of music it then

becomes Christian. As E.A. Bucchianeri famously writes in Brushstrokes of a Gadfly, “Art is in

the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation”. For the sake of

honoring the audience and taking personal opinions out of this study, the author has chosen to

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allow the charts to define what is and isn’t Christian music. Through this study, however, we’ve

learned that some audiences are more receptive to “Christian” music than others. At the same

time, some Christian audiences are more receptive to secular music than others.

A comparison of the success of the two dominant Christian genres (Hot Rock and Hot

Country) identifies more consistent success within Christian rock music in the past ten years.

Christian rock’s secular intolerance to theological lyrics, however, supports the conclusion that

the most dominant type of crossover happening in the rock genre is that of secular music

crossing over into Christian audiences. Christian country’s high tolerance of such theological

language, on the other hand, supports the conclusion that the most dominant type of crossover

happening in the country genre is that of “Christian” music crossing over into secular audiences .

Even with these obvious differing lyrical contents, both country and rock were surprisingly able

to achieve similar rates of success crossing into the Hot 100 chart outside the confounds of

country and rock audiences. Therefore, the success of a Christian crossover single in the

mainstream is indeed dependent on its degree of theological lyrics and basic genre. Country

music appears to have the freedom to use explicitly religious lyrics, while rock seems more

comfortable with secular language to convey religious messages.

The success of Contemporary Christian Music is hard to track due to the absence of one

industry definitional standard. Why a “secular” pop song like Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” reaches

the Christian music charts while other famously inspirational songs like Christina Aguilera’s

“Beautiful” fail to achieve such crossover is a mystery. Many songs labeled simply inspirational

by some often are labeled Christian by others (and vice versa). There is no one defining factor

whereby Christian music can garner full agreement on the issue, but one common trend seen

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throughout the decades is the ability of Contemporary Christian Music to bring people together

regardless of genres, religion, and culture.

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